Standing Alone
by the-shadowed-one
Summary: ONESHOT. Side by side, alive only in love. Their love had survived the test of time. Their love had survived their death. HGDM.


This is a little one shot I wrote a couple of days ago. It's more angsty than what I usually write, but I really enjoyed writing it. I hope you enjoy reading it.

**Standing Alone**

Hermione was standing alone on the balcony of the Astronomy tower. It was far past midnight. The moon was the only light that lit up the grounds, the stars having disappeared beneath darkened clouds.

It had been another one of those days where nothing seems to go your way. Those kind of days had been increasingly more common in her life asHermione got older.

She leaned over the balcony, and stared down into the darkness. Of course she hadpondered committing suicide, but it always seemed like the thing that someone who was truly upset would go through with. Not Hermione, the good girl with the perfect grades, the perfect parents, and the perfect life. She scoffed.

"I'd hardly call it perfect," she said quietly to herself.

When she was eleven and her best friend, Amelia, died in a car accident, Hermione had considered suicide. She was looking for a way out, and a way to be with her friend. She was confused, but she never could follow through with taking her life.

When she was fourteen and Ginny got her first boyfriend, some good looking fifth year in Ravenclaw, Hermione became aware of how alone she was. She always felt awkward when she was around the pair, standing alone while they were holding hands and laughing at their own private jokes, it was truly a situation which she tried to avoid. Again she pondered death, and wondered if she was gone, would any of her peers miss her?

Now she stood, still alone, and pondered death once again. What she had witnessed… Draco with Erica Sanders.

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Draco lay alone in his bed, long after she had found them. He was stupid for doing such a thing, though the alcohol didn't help his judgment. It had felt so right at the time, and he had blocked out his conscience reminding him of Hermione.

She was beautiful, far more beautiful than Erica, and she was smarter. She was a natural beauty, looked amazing without makeup, which was something few girls could pull off. And he had destroyed what they had in one night.

One bloody night.

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Hermione was sitting on the balcony, her legs dangling over the edge. She shivered in the cool, night air, and wondered if this was something she wanted.

She tried to think back to a happier time in her life, but all she could think of was Draco. How he had treated her like a queen, and yet how he had hurt her. Despite all of that, she still loved him.

She wanted to feel his touch once more, and her him say 'I love you' after all this time. But he wouldn't. He was with Erica, it was his choice, and now this was hers.

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Draco sat up and rubbed his eyes. He needed to find her, he needed to tell her he still loved her. It was midnight. Where would she be?

A smile crept over his lips as he remembered something she had told him.

"_Its quiet up there. You can see so far across the grounds, and no one can ever find you. Its far from everyone, far away from my troubles. Its my haven."_

He knew exactly where she would be.

He grabbed his robes off of a hook by his bed. Slipping these over his t-shirt and boxers, he set off upstairs.

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Maybe she should leave a note. Then again, maybe that was just her organization skills coming into play. _That's right Hermione, leave them a nice suicide note. As if that will make anything better for yourself._

She shook off the voice, and grabbed up her wand. She waved it in the air, forming words. Each letter carved itself into the stone wall opposite her.

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Draco reached the bottom of the last flight of stairs panting and gasping for breath. He had successfully climbed thirty flights without stopping, and now that there was only one more he was beginning to feel the effects of the journey. He breathed in heavily, and took the last few steps that separated him from his lover.

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Hermione finished the last word and looked over her work. Well, that settles it.The notelike a knife, silencing and deafening at the same time.

She shook off her thoughts, and swung one leg, then the other, over the edge. She sat like that, teetering between life and death, pain and salvation, misery and a chance at freedom. Her heart filled with sorrow as her eyes filled with tears, and she leaned further over the edge. If she let go now, she could end this. If she let go, she could forget him. If she clung on, she would go on living in sadness. She made a choice, and let go of the steel bar that was holding her to her life.

The air rushed past her, pushing her hair upward and blowing her clothes tightly against her skin. She opened her mouth and tried to scream, but no sound came out. It felt as though she was falling for centuries. Memories flashed in front of her eyes, all making her regret her choice. Then the image of Draco came into play. Anger, hate, sadness, love, and regret filled her mind. She couldn't deny she still loved him. She always would. But she couldn't have him, and now no one could ever have her.

Her body hit the ground, now torn and broken. Immense pain shot through her. So this is what dying feels like? "Draco," she croaked,even though she knewno one could hear her. "I still love you." She inhaled her last breath. "Still love you…"

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Draco opened the door to the Astronomy tower. He watched in horror as his girlfriend slipped out of view, out of his reach, over the side of the balcony. He was frozen in shock.

"Hermione!" he screamed, racing to the edge, hoping to see her clinging to the side, hanging on and waiting for him to rescue her. No such luck. "Hermione!"

A single tear slipped down his cheek and fell into the darkness below. A sickening crunch on the ground below made his stomach lurch. Hermione was gone.

In an instant he made a decision. He would do anything to be with her, and if it meant throwing himself off of a balcony to stay by her side, he would do it. He climbed over the balcony, and dangled one leg over it. He let the other slip off, and stayed hanging only by his arms. That was when he saw the note. He read it silently, and then carefully slipping his wand out of his pocket, he added something to it.

A tear slipped down his face and fell to meet the other. He took one last breath and let go.

Draco's body made contact with the ground and something else. Feeling the blood trickle down the side of his face, he turned his head ever so slightly to stareinto the cold, lifeless face ofhis love.

"I love you," he whispered. It had been a year they were dating, and he had never spoke those words. "I love you," his voice quivered as he spoke. "I would… die without you."

And so he had.

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It was that morning the bodies were found. Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. Lying side by side, alive only in love. Their love had survived the test of time. Their love had survived their death.

It was that morning the note she had carved was found.

_My dearest Draco,_

_I shall love you till the day I die,_

_And even after my death, I shall love you still._

Underneath, someone had added something to it.

_Hermione._

_I would die without you,_

_I love you, and if you can't hear that where you are,_

_I will follow you to the ends of the earth. _

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…Please review…


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